on the broadcast tonight, after a history-making election night, four more years for president obama. tonight, how he won, why mitt romney lost, and the message voters across america sent last night. we'll have a look at all the trends and results. also tonight, the east coast is taking another hit of extreme weather, and it is going to get worse. it means more trouble for millions of people already hit hard by hurricane sandy. the storm, and the election, nightly news begins now. good evening, while the nation tries to recover from a deep recession, and in a presidential race, we were after all, all told, was as close and as tight as they get.

barack obama, the 44th president of the united states was reelected last night. he was somehow able to stitch together a convincing victory, winning just about all of the battleground states that were so heavily fought over in the most expensive race in u.s. history. it was early this morning when the president appeared with his family becoming the third consecutive two-term president we've elected. that has not happened since the time of presidents jefferson, madison, and monroe. president obama won a decisive victory in both the electoral college and in the popular vote. the outlyer, the one state on the map not yet called is florida. and here we are on the east coast, also covering this. a nor'easter, a storm so fierce the governor of new jersey said it will move his state's recovery effort backward for a time. and here is a live picture of the map, the 30 rock stage we

used as part of the election coverage last night. tonight it is part of swirling snow. back inside, we look at what happened last night as the president's historic re-election for a second term. he is back at the white house, where kristen welker has more. >> reporter: brian, good evening, after a grueling and bitter campaign, president obama returns to the white house as a two-term president. and with the economy still limping back to health, the stakes could not be higher. president obama, a winner this afternoon, heading back to washington where voters decided he should stay for four more years. at his campaign headquarters in chicago this afternoon, mr. obama thanked staff and supporters. this, after a night of emotional celebration in his hometown of chicago, 20,000 turned out, shedding tears and sharing hugs. >> a long campaign is now over. and whether i earned your vote or not, i have listened to you.

i have learned from you. and you have made me a better president. michelle, i have never loved you more. >> reporter: mixed with a little bit of humor aimed at his daughters. >> i am so proud of you guys, but i will say for now, one dog is enough. >> reporter: the president held almost 2,000 campaign events, logging miles on air force one, the candidates spending the most money in history. it is a victory at times seeming impossible, given the anemic economy, and sharply divided electorate. >> this disruptive debate here on capitol hill. >> reporter: mr. obama seemed to recognize the new urgency for bipartisanship. >> i am looking forward to reaching out and working with both parties to meet the

challenges we can only solve together. >> reporter: even pledging to accomplish things this time around he was not able to the first time around. >> reducing our deficit, fixing the tax code, fixing the immigration system. freeing ourselves from foreign oil, we have more work to do. >> reporter: and mr. obama tried to bury the hatchett with his one-time foe. >> in the weeks ahead i also look forward to sitting down with governor romney, to make this country move forward. >> reporter: this photo was posted, and quickly became the most liked ever on facebook. just one more image of barack obama's groundbreaking journey. now with the potential economic crisis looming, the president already reached out to congressional members of both parties, in an effort to show he is serious about bipartisanship. and the work has already begun on the viewing stance. one more point, i am told the

crew on air force one gave mr. obama a congratulatory cake. >> kristen welker, thank you, on the trail. and now, in boston, after a sad night there, the question what went wrong in the romney campaign. peter alexander covering, there for us tonight. peter, good evening. >> reporter: brian, good evening to you here in boston, this is apparently the intersection of politics and the nor'easter, in the words of one top aide to the romney campaign tonight. the mood in the campaign is a lot like this weather, dreary, at the end of a six-year long quest for the white house. tonight, mitt romney is left asking himself what might have been. dressed in a business suit and surrounded by family and friends, and for a final few hours, a secret service team, mitt romney this morning left his boston hotel, quickly returning to life as a private citizen. on this november 7th, the day

governor romney promised voters he would get to work, the only campaign work left to do, packing up, and tearing down. just before 9:00 this morning, almost 90 minutes after most networks had called the race, mr. romney took the stage alone. >> like so many of you, paul and i have left everything on the field. we have given our all to this campaign. >> reporter: but his disappointment at the end of a six-year quest was palpable. >> i so wish i had been able to fulfill your hopes to lead the country in another direction. but the nation chose another leader. >> reporter: mr. romney thanked supporters and staff but saved special words for his wife of 43 years. >> she would have been a wonderful first lady. >> reporter: today, paul ryan who was reelected to the house and will have a much bigger voice, released a statement, i am very proud of the campaign we ran, and i remain grateful to the governor to be his running

mate. aides cut the audio to the giant broadcast screens, cueing the band to play. and today, one of mr. romney's top surrogates, new jersey governor chris christie spoke for his fellow republican. >> i was extraordinarily disappointed last night, i was surprised that it ended the way it did. but that is the way it goes. >> reporter: another person put it more succinctly, telling nbc news, this one stings. and in the last hour, governor romney left the campaign, there wrapping up a good-bye meeting about his staff, now leaving the headquarters perhaps for the last time. >> peter alexander at the end of the campaign, in a blustery mass, and lester holt is here with more, on how the oba campaign was able to stitch together this victory. >> well, the short answer is,

they recognized the demographic shift in this country, brian, you can argue the romney campaign was working from a very solid playbook, but it may have been from an out dated book. mitt romney's loss has the conservative reality shrinking from a republican base. since 1992, the percentage of white voters has dropped to 72%, while at the same time the percentage of latino voters who tend to lean democratic, have steadile grown. >> this is a different country, and republicans need to understand that. >> reporter: john mccain got 31% in 2008, and for mitt romney this year, just 27%, in the wake of tuesday, republicans' soul-searching will center around places like orlando.

bush won it in 2004, but a growing puerto rico population have now helped to fuel obama's win there, a group not happy with republicans. >> you go out and disrespect the hispanic community like that, you think that we don't notice that? >> reporter: in florida alone, the hispanic population has grown, but among them, the republicans have been perceived as tone deaf on topics like immigration reform. >> well, the answer is self- self-deportation. >> it is the words that are used. self-deportation, was i think, really, really hurtful. >> reporter: republicans must now figure out how to balance

their core ideals and values against this shifting demographic landscape. >> republicans, at least at the national level, want to win elections. and along this path they can't win national elections. there will be a debate, then, on how you react to that. but i think the assumption will be broadly shared in the party. >> the post-mortem will take time. and among the questions the republicans will ask themselves, are the swing states really swing states? have the demographics been so profound, brian, at least when it comes to presidential races, blue states. >> absolutely, one of the many questions that the politicians will be going over as we come out of this, lester holt, thank you, and chuck todd last night in the engine room was watching this happen last night in the numbers in realtime as it happened. and chuck, you have more proof today. >> well, the obama campaign used

a not so secret government document called the 2010 census. and essentially, what they saw in the state of florida, and they did it in the nine battleground states. but we are focusing on florida, because they're saying okay, we are not going to be able to carry any new counties. they won't expand the electorate outside of what they normally do, what they're going to do is find more voters. in 2008, in florida, the white vote accounted for 71% of the vote. well, in 2012, yesterday, the white vote fell down to 66%. so all of a sudden, more than a third of voters in florida were nonwhite. what does that mean going forward, brian? i just want to show you what this means for the electoral map. i think it means in 2016, you will see georgia, you will see texas and arizona possibly in play. because that is where the hispanic population has been booming. >> all right, so many numbers,

so little time. chuck todd back at his board, chuck thank you. and so many races, so many results. andrea mitchell has more on what happened last night. >> reporter: a lot happened last night, when it was all over, the house remained republican, the senate remained democratic, but that doesn't mean a lot didn't change in the election last night. in a year when a male senate candidate talked about legitimate rape, and mitt romney spoke awkwardly about binders of women. the new senate will have five women elected, ranging from the first asian-american woman, to elizabeth warren, who defeated scott brown in massachusetts. >> you better believe we're going to fight for equal pay. >> reporter: and tammy bald wind win is the first openly gay.

>> i will be a senator for all of wisconsin. >> reporter: as for the republican candidates, richard akin, and akin lost to mccaskill, who held on to her senate seat. in new hampshire, all the top elected officials are now women. the governor, both senators and the members of congress, democrats started to recruit women candidates almost two years ago. >> almost at the beginning of the time when the republicans came into power in the house and the first few bills they put out took away the woman's right to choose. >> reporter: for the first time, white men will be in the minority among house democrats, but house democrats will be male. this also saw same-sex marriage gains, maryland the first to vote for gay marriage, and washington state and colorado voted to legalize recreational

marijuana. massachusetts legalized it for medicinal use, only. >> there is a whole lot of weed on the ballot in places. >> reporter: but in arkansas, voters defeated legalization. still, as the poet once said, the times, they are a 'changing. >> boy, they are, thank you, andrea mitchell. we'll take a break, and when we come back, a big storm that is an urgent matter for many along the east coast, many of them still racked up and suffering from the last one.

like the last time we went through this, we had a lot of notice and warning that a storm is coming. and just like last time, it is making conditions difficult for a lot of people. the nor'easter, on its way tonight, that the new jersey governor said will actually set back recovery efforts in that

state. nbc's katy tur is in the community of seabright, new jersey, not far from new york city to the south laupg new jersey. good evening. >> reporter: good evening, this is what you don't see very often, we have accumulation on the ground and flooding, here, it is three blocks wide at the widest, we have the ocean behind me and the river. it floods during nor'easter, and got hit hard during sandy, you can see it by the buildings behind me. now this town along the coast of new jersey is wondering what they will wake up to. ten days after hurricane sandy ripped apart the jersey shore, towns are scrambling to prepare for the first major winter storm and restore the battered coastline. mike seidel here this morning. here at pleasant point beach they spent the day bringing sand out to the beach, building a dune twice as high but not as wide as the one wiped out by

hurricane sandy. >> reporter: new jersey governor chris christie warned this nor'easter could stall the restoration effort. >> i hate setbacks, i don't tolerate them very well, but this one i can't control. the weather is what it is, and we're going to have to deal with it. >> reporter: this afternoon, seabright is empty and broken, as the town waits for another dangerous storm surge, the town council member has the hard job of making sure folks get out of town for their own good. >> we have people here started to call, asking us to get them. it is dangerous. >> reporter: throughout new jersey, on the shore and inland, there are still 369,000 homes and businesses without power. among those trying to cope, long-time new jersey resident. >> the water was right up at the top of the fence. >> reporter: he stayed for sandy, which poured four feet of water into his basement. and he is ignoring the mandatory evacuation this time. >> the worst thing that can happen is that tree being pushed

up on the house. >> reporter: up and down the shore, the neighbors are helping neighbors. >> the best thing we can do is pray for the people around us. >> reporter: hearing that what sandy managed to leave behind, this next cruel storm will take away. there is a code blue across new jersey, meaning there are emergency shelters to get warm, and brian, i will tell you it is very cold out here. >> katy tur, thank you, into the studio we go, meteorologist janice huff has more, we estimate we have folks who still can't see this broadcast. this is just about more than this region can take. >> exactly, brian, and with the wind so strong with the storm out there, people who maybe just got their power back may lose their power again. it is snowing outside in new york city like it is the middle of january. and katy tur mentioned the cold, that snow band extends at the way from new jersey to

birkshires in new jersey. and it looks like the moderate to heavy snow will continue through new york city up through western and southern massachusetts, southern portions of new hampshire, through midnight tonight and continuing through parts of maine through tomorrow. then it will slowly wind down. the totals, two to four expected, four to eight in western new jersey, into western connecticut and the birkshires, maybe as much as ten inches in the higher elevations. >> absolutely hard to believe, janice, thank you, when we come back, a plunge in the markets today. we'll look at what had wall street so worried.

on wall street today, something of a post-election hangover, after the european debt crisis exploded back on the scene, and worries about our debt crisis here contributed to what was the one-day biggest loss, dow down, 113, nasdaq lost 75, s&p, down 34. we have asked maria bartiromo to

join us from cnbc headquarters to answer the question on what is going on here. >> well, a lot is going on here, brian, a tough day on wall street, we'll see we're not going to see much improvement in europe over the near term. but the disappointment was what was to come over the winning of barack obama, the community is worried about higher taxes and regulations. and as a result, they sold today and are thinking later. the fiscal cliff, at the end of the year we're going to see $600 billion in spending cuts, meaning layoffs, health care transportation, couple that with tax increases for most income levels. if they don't get their arms around the fiscal cliff, that is the big thing they want to see in washington, now investors are thinking, let's sell now, think

later. >> there has to be hope, as always, we're going long tonight, an extra half hour, but if your nbc station doesn't stay with us, please be ready to switch over live on nbc.com. another break, up next, the first daughters growing up before our very eyes.

. next at 6:00, complete local post election coverage, including a young congressman headed to washington after a

bitter battle. what he intends to do to help the president. a change is in the forecast. the news is next. one of the enduring images of last night was when the first family emerged in chicago, a lot of people were thinking about the memory of four years ago. and all parents can sympathize with how fast kids grow up. of course not all have to grow up in the public eye, but what a striking image last night, four years ago, and last night, the daughters there, malia is now fourteen, sasha, eleven, if yours is not where you live you can watch our broadcast streaming on line at nbcnightlynews.com. for now, however, this is our

broadcast after election night. thank you for joining us, i'm brian williams, we hope to see you either way back here tomorrow evening. good night. good evening, everyone. i'm jessica aguirre. >> and i'm brian foss. we'll rejoin brian williams coming up at 7:00. a congressman is being replaced by a 31-year-old newcomer. 80-year-old pete stark who was first voted in in the nixon legislation is stepping down. monty, 31 years old, j